A massive ‘CRACK’ accompanied by a bone shaking pulse spread through the area. Ezekiel found himself flying backwards. Barely realizing that Shine had ‘Jumped’ back into his hand. His fingers instinctively curled around Shine’s hilt.
As for the Lightning Hunter, Ezekiel saw that his armor was cracked almost everywhere, and the man was seizing much like Ezekiel was moments before.
Silence immediately followed as everyone in the area turned to see what had happened. Everyone except Warren and Evelyn, who took advantage of their enemy’s wariness to retreat and fall back to the struggling guards. In an instant, several Kindled Hounds were slain, and more began to fall.
At the same time, Callrond and Feynari, the Radiant and Obscure Spirit duo, dove towards Norton and the Flame Hunter. The black and white pair alternated between who attacked and who defended. Ezekiel wasn’t sure how long they would last. But he knew that they needed to do something to support each other as quickly as possible.
Spira, the Flame Spirit, and Morty, the Glacier Spirit, attacked the other Radiant Hunter, and the Life Hunter that was assisting her. Invera soon followed. Letting loose bolts of Lightning that struck her enemies without mercy.
As for Ezekiel, upon regaining his bearings, he charged the Lightning Hunter who had just been torturing him. Greatly weakened by the attack of a nascent Mythic Spirit, each and every one of Ezekiel’s swings landed without issue. It was only Shine’s comparative weakness that prevented them from further breaking the Lightning Hunter’s Spirit Armor.
“You... fucking... vermin!” The bloodied and broken voice of Ezekiel’s foe was a gurgling whisper as he channeled his mana. Not realizing that Ezekiel had something planned.
Ezekiel could sense that this was an attack that would end his life if he wasn’t careful. But he had already figured out what kind of person this particular Hound happened to be. So, he waited until it was about to be released. Only for Shine to ‘Jump’ them away. The massive bolt of Lightning passed through the air harmlessly but impacted against the back of the Flame Hunter that had moved to go after Warren.
A loud scream and the shattering of glass was briefly heard from the Flame Hunter. Followed by a loud shriek that silenced them. The bright blue bird Spirit clawed into the Flame Hunter’s back. Having circled back from a flash of light that had sent him reeling.
Talons pierced though right where her armor had been broken by the full-strength attack of the Hound Ezekiel was fighting. His beak then closed around her head, ripping it off right after, before he renewed his attack on the Radiant and Life Hunters.
“Urk!” An opalescent black pierced through the Hunter’s back and through his chest.
Ezekiel, having changed tactics, stabbed through one of the many cracks in the man’s Spirit armor. Having taken advantage of the Hound’s anger to repeat the strike he had used one before.
“You...” As the Legendary Hunter tried to speak, Ezekiel couldn’t help but feel surprised. His eyes widened in shock as the Hound raised a hand in his direction. His fingers crackled with lightning once more. Though not as strong as they could be.
Fortunately, it seemed that the Hound didn’t have much mana left. Only enough to shock Ezekiel into blasting away once more. Taking a knee, the Hound swayed for a moment. Grabbing Shine’s blade as it poked through his chest, he tried to push it back through his body. But he couldn’t.
Shine was using their own magic to stay firmly in place. If not for the Legendary’s weakened state, Shine knew that they would have no chance. But with the Hound so close to death, it was almost an easy task.
Climbing back to his feet, Ezekiel saw what the Hound was trying to do. Charging forward, he threw his entire body behind a punch that snapped the Hound’s head backward. A sickening crack was heard as the Hounds neck bent at an unnatural angle. Ezekiel’s Legendary strength was more than enough for such a feat. Though only possible because of Invera’s attack.
The Hound fell backwards, pushing Shine further through his chest. Weak coughs and rasping gurgles were all Ezekiel could hear from the man. Rolling the Hound to the side, Ezekiel grabbed hold of Shine once more.
Ezekiel levered Shine’s blade through the man’s chest before ripping them out of the body. Ensuring that the Hound was dead. Then Ezekiel cut off the Hound’s head as his Spirit Armor faded away. Although he didn’t like being so ruthless, Ezekiel hadn’t enjoyed being electrocuted.
A sudden shriek of pain drew Ezekiel’s attention. It seemed while he had been preoccupied, Callrond and Feynari had gotten sloppy. That, or Norton had gotten a lucky shot in.
Feynari was now on the ground obviously in pain as she seemed to release a shadowy steam from her wounds. One of her wings lay several feet away from her. While swords of light had pierced through other parts of her body, seemingly increasing the steam that was rising from her. Callrond stood over his sister’s body protectively. Enduring an onslaught from Norton.
Swords rained down on the Radiant Spirit like a hailstorm. A protective barrier of furled wings had appeared above them. Each sword made a crack in the barrier, only for the cracks to be filled with light. It had become a battle of attrition. One that Ezekiel knew Callrond would lose.
“Wretched beast! How could a creature of such light have been tainted by such darkness!?” The man’s words caused Callrond to shriek in rage. Losing his senses, the Radiant Spirit unleashed his own onslaught against the Hunter before him. Eating away at his mana even faster.
Ezekiel stilled. He didn’t wish to abandon the Radiant Spirit that had already done so much for him. But he knew that if he entered that fight, he would die before he knew what had happened.
Norton wasn’t the kind of man to play with his prey. Not like Ezekiel’s opponent had been.
The tides had turned. Two of Ezekiel and his party’s Legendary enemies had died. Evelyn and Warren had nearly wiped out the Hounds that had attacked the caravan. While Invera, Morty, and Spina dealt with the female Radiant Hunter and the Life Hunter helping her.
It seemed that Norton had noticed this as well, however, and wasn’t willing to draw things out long enough for Warren and Evelyn to recover and provide more aid.
“Retreat! Fall back now!” Norton clapped his hands together, releasing a blinding flash of light that caused Ezekiel to recoil. An action mimicked by the rest of the caravan. By the time Ezekiel could see once more, Norton had fled, taking the other Radiant Hunter with him.
But it seemed that the Kindled family’s prejudice included even their own assets, because the Life hunter that was with them had been left behind.
Seeing that she was about to be struck down, Ezekiel rapidly called out.
“Keep her alive!” Shocked by the sudden shout, the Legendary birds briefly paused. But not for long enough, as the Legendary Life Hunter failed to get away. Instead, she was knocked unconscious as Invera hit her with far more electricity than Ezekiel would be able to withstand.
Sighing in relief, Ezekiel turned to Callrond, who was at the edge of a berserker rage. Rushing over to the sibling Radiant and Obscure Spirits, Ezekiel realized that things were bad. Looking over Feynari’s body, Ezekiel could see that, while fading, the swords that Norton had used seemed to be leaking energy that was eating away at her body.
It seemed that the hatred that the Kindled family held for the Obscure element even affected their magic. To the point that it was essentially poisonous to said magic.
“GUARDS!!!” Ezekiel called out to the caravan. “All Obscure Mages, get here now!”
Seeing what had happened, Evelyn was the first to rush over, and she gasped in shock at seeing Feynari so injured.
“You’ve fought Kindled Hounds before, right? How do we counter their magic?” Ezekiel was frantic as he questioned his mother. “We need to clear out any lingering energy if we want her to survive.”
Evelyn didn’t say anything. But the sadness Ezekiel could see in her eyes told him all he needed to know. It was highly unlikely that there was anything they could do at the moment. At least, there was nothing that she could do.
“Move aside.” Warren called out as he slowly approached the still shrieking Callrond. “I can remove the light that’s infecting her. But it might be too late, even if I do.”
Ezekiel decided to ignore that possibility, and instead, moved with his father towards Feynari and Callrond. Wary of the raging Spirit but letting out a sigh of relief as Warren was given permission to remove the light from Feynari. Now, Ezekiel just had to get the Obscure Mages in on his plan.
“What are we going to do, Ezekiel?” Shine asked as they remained in Ezekiel’s hand. “Spirits can recover a lot, but this might be too much. It’s not like we can just take mana from the guards either. Their Will, will taint the mana, so Feynari won’t be able to absorb it.”
“... Not if we supercharge it...” Ezekiel muttered. “Like we did with Riley.”
Ezekiel’s plan was simple, in theory. He hoped to have the various Obscure Mages channel their mana into a barrier space that Shine would create. Then, Shine would feed off Ezekiel’s mana, what they had access to, and send it into the barrier. This would supercharge the Obscure mana. Hopefully wiping it clean of any lingering Will as it basically exploded with power.
Explaining this to the assembled Obscure Mages, all five of them, including his mother and sister, garnered several looks of disbelief.
“I know it sounds crazy, but it should work, in theory.” Ezekiel said with a halfhearted grin. “Before anyone says anything else, I need to know if any of you are intending to not provide assistance to the Legendary birds that saved our asses.”
Other than Evelyn glaring at him for cursing in front of his sister, none of the guards said anything. They all realized that refusing to do this, when it had little risk to themselves, was the same as telling one of their saviors to die.
Having heard everything, Callrond looked at Ezekiel with pleading eyes. The group moved forward. Warren stepped back. He had done all he could to remove the poisonous light from Feynari.
“Let’s give this a shot.” Ezekiel held Shine out horizontally, wincing in pain as he felt mana pulled from him in ways he hadn’t repaired yet. Fortunately, it didn’t exacerbate the damage.
All around him, black gas-like substance funneled into a barrier as shadows seemed to take shape in the air above Feynari. For a brief moment, all the mana seemed to fight each other, before being quickly overpowered by Evelyn’s Tier four mana.
This happened until Shine could contain no more mana. The space they had created filled to the brim. Nearly a full step of Tier four mana had been contained. Most came from Evelyn. Each of the Obscure Mages was laid out on the ground by the time they were done.
Yet Ezekiel and Shine weren’t done just yet.
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“Pull me back if it explodes.” Warren and Evelyn looked at Ezekiel in shock for a moment. Not comprehending his words at first. Warren opened his mouth to call out for Ezekiel to stop, but a slight nod of his head was all it took for Shine to add the Void mana directly to the mass of Obscure mana.
In an instant, it seemed like everything around them dimmed, and cracks seemed to appear in the air as the barrier began to break. But Shine had layered them, so it was fine as they repaired the inner barriers.
“Mother. I need you to tell me if you feel a connection to this mana.” Evelyn snapped out of her shock from Ezekiel’s previous words. But didn’t do anything besides glare at her son. She knew that he couldn’t be disturbed at this point.
“I... yes. I can still feel something from it.” Evelyn stared at the ball of blackness for a moment before answering.
“More Void.” Shine complied with Ezekiel’s words. The barrier cracked once more. “How about now?”
Evelyn said yes, so Ezekiel had Shine channel more Void mana. This continued three more times. The mass of shadows grew to be half as wide in diameter as Ezekiel was tall.
“... I can’t sense it. I think I’d have to be meditating to realize that there was mana there. If I closed my eyes at least.” Evelyn said with a hint of awe in her voice. By now, she and Warren trusted Ezekiel to not blow himself up.
Happy to hear this, Ezekiel sighed in relief. Now he just had to figure out how to get the mana into Feynari without hurting her.
“Invera. Callrond. How do Spirits absorb foreign mana?” Ezekiel asked. The two Spirits in question perked up from their observations of what Ezekiel was doing. “Quickly. I’m not sure how much longer we can contain this, and Feynari doesn’t look like she’ll last much longer.”
By this point, Feynari had nearly begun to fade, though it was slow with the help of the Mages. But she had stopped moving, and her wounds were still leaking mana. Something that couldn’t be stopped fully by any Mages at this point. To many openings that needed to be plugged.
“Put it in her mouth. Usually, Spirits absorb mana slowly in the wild. Taking it in naturally, like breathing, or ambient absorption. But in the case where a Spirit eats another of the same element, the devoured mana remains inside until the Will is broken down to be absorbed.” Invera explained. “In this case, I believe that she will instantly be able to absorb the mana. Healing her right away. Although... her wing...”
While they were stalling Feynari’s death, her severed wing had already faded away. Luckily, Spirit could regrow their limbs. So long as they had the mana and time to do so. That didn’t mean the process would be fun, however.
Moving the large sphere of shadows towards Feynari’s mouth, Shine used their barriers to create a tube that led into Feynari’s throat. Then they released the mana, which began rushing directly into Feynari’s body.
For a moment, nothing happened, and Ezekiel was afraid this had all been for naught. But after a few seconds, Feynari’s eyes widened. The shadows in the sphere were instantly sucked into Feynari’s maw. Her wounds stopped leaking mana, and she stood up, flapping her remaining wing in the process.
Sending Ezekiel flying backwards in the process. Only to be caught by his father before he could hit the ground.
While Feynari was looking around in shock and fear, her last conscious thoughts having been filled with the pain of Norton’s swords, Ezekiel was lowered to the ground by his father, who looked at him with pride.
“... I’d say this mission was a success. At least for now.” Ezekiel said as he watched Callrond embrace his sister.
Warren just smiled, but the small glare Ezekiel saw in his father’s eyes assured him that he would be getting lectured later. But to be honest, Ezekiel didn’t care. Not only had they survived, and saved a Legendary Spirit, he’d proven something else that he could use his magic for.
Now, they just had to clean up the caravan and get to wherever the Legendary Birds were bringing them to. Then, he could hopefully relax.
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It was several hours later when the caravan finally arrived at the side of a cliff face. Most of the Legendary birds were flying above. Feynari had shrunk down when she had finally calmed herself. Given her injuries and current weakness, it was decided that she would ride with the caravan.
Specifically, she was granted the lofty position of riding on Evelyn’s left shoulder. Something that Reya was reluctant to allow but did so as she took over Evelyn’s right shoulder.
“Here.” Invera swiftly landed in front of the caravan as they came to a stop. “This is the entrance to the haven we are taking you to.”
Everyone looked confused, as there was merely a massive rock face in front of them. But before anyone could say anything, the ground started to rumble. The shaking became so great that several of the guards that were on their feet were easily knocked down.
It was only the guards and Lance, who were all perched atop wagons or carriages, that managed to remain upright. Even the mounts that were being used got spooked, throwing their riders off. The only reason they didn’t run was due to the pressure being exerted by Ezekiel and his parents. Keeping the animals calm.
Slowly, a crack formed in the cliff face. It widened further and further, until it spread nearly five meters wide and five meters tall. More than large enough for the animals and carriages that they were pulling.
Just as the opening in the cliff face reached its maximum size, heavy footsteps echoed from the cavernous tunnel. They sounded like claps of thunder. Several of the guards grew scared, crawling backwards until only Ezekiel and his parents were in the front.
Even Riley, who was standing in front of Ezekiel’s sisters, several feet behind them, looked like she wanted to run. The pressure being released by whatever was coming through the tunnel was just that heavy and threatening.
“It appears that the gatekeeper is a difficult one this time.” Invera muttered just loud enough for Ezekiel and his parent’s to hear. “Show respect when he comes up. Perhaps he’ll be less of a grump if you do.”
As soon as Invera fell silent once more, a rumbling growl emanated from the tunnel. Finally, the figure within stepped into the low light cast by the afternoon sun in the distance. A Cavern Spirit that had a presence that was unmistakable as any else but Legendary.
The Spirit before them was a small tortoise, roughly reaching up to Ezekiel’s knee.
“What?” A confused voice mumbled from the group of guards.
The tortoise’s eyes snapped in the direction of the poor guard. As did Ezekiel, who tackled the man out of the way before the mana hardened pillar that shot up from the ground could launch the much weaker guard into the air.
“OOF!!!” Ezekiel let out a grunt of pain as the pillar slammed into his stomach. Knocking the wind out of him, but not sending him flying. His own toughened body absorbed the momentum instead.
“Snort!” The tortoise shaped Spirit stamped its foot, causing the ground to quake. But it didn’t take any additional actions. Instead, it stepped to the side of the tunnel, raising one foot and pointing inwards.
“You all had better go. Charus will close the tunnel behind you all. Feynari will be able to guide you. Though I would suggest your Radiant Mages shed some light as you travel. It will undoubtedly be easier for you.” With those parting words, Invera rose into the air once more. “I shall see you all when you are within the haven. For the moment, it would be in your best interests not to speak to Charus. He does not tend to enjoy the presence of humans. Best not to temp his ire.”
Flying away with a flash of lightning, Invera left the caravan alone. As one, the guards looked into the sky, seeing that the protective Spirits had left them.
“SNORT!!!” The ground trembled once more as Charus shook his still raised foot in the direction of the tunnel.
The caravan quickly moved forward, with Warren taking up the front, while Evelyn and Feynari took the middle. Finally, Ezekiel took up the rear, being the last person in the group to see sunlight, before Charus stepped in behind him. Darkness consumed the caravan as the Legendary Cavern Spirit closed the tunnel behind them.
Several lights illuminated the tunnel, moving forward, even as more and more of the tunnel behind them slid together. Slowly closing shut like a zipper.
“SNORT!!!”
The caravan silently, and unanimously, decided to move faster.
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The group walked through the dimly lit tunnel for what felt like hours. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, it was difficult to be certain of the current time. While they did have time piece Artifacts, it had been quickly realized that they weren’t working properly.
Some of the Cavern Mage guards were able to identify the problem though. Apparently, there was something strange about how the mana in the stone surrounding them was flowing. It made it so that active use of mana beyond a certain level of complexity simply faded away.
This didn’t mean that spells of a higher level couldn’t be used, but the enchantments of any Artifacts or armaments were utterly nullified.
“Fascinating...” Lance, who had requested his guards make notes regarding what they could gleam from the mana flows, seemed to get it into his head that this would be something that his family could make use of. Unfortunately, Ezekiel knew that this was basically impossible.
The quietly grinding teeth of the Spirit behind him made that perfectly clear.
“Perhaps, young master, it would be best to leave such ponderings for when we are in the open air.” Evelyn softly said as he used a shadow to pinch Lance in the side. Just hard enough to be uncomfortable, but not enough to be painful.
Straightening his back in fright, Lance realized what Evelyn meant right away. So, he decided to keep his mouth shut for the foreseeable future.
Beyond that quiet interruption, however, the trip was surprisingly simple and smooth. There were some twists and turns here and there, but otherwise no issues. However, the monotony of walking through a blank walled tunnel for hours was still mind numbingly boring.
Hence, it was no surprise when, after seeing a small light in the distance, the guards began to speed up. This led to the caravan leaving Charus behind. Something that Ezekiel didn’t think was a good thing.
Looking over his shoulder, Ezekiel continued walking at the same pace, even as the rest of the caravan got further away.
“Is this alright... Lord Charus?” Ezekiel was unsure if this was a fitting title, but he felt he needed to be respectful.
Charus narrowed his eyes, sighing in frustration.
“He says that the proper title would be Protector.” Shine chimed in. Translating the words of the Legendary Cavern Spirit.
“Ah... My apologies, Protector Charus. But, still, is this behavior, okay?” Charus just closed his eyes as he continued to silently walk forward. The tunnel was still sliding shut behind him.
Suddenly, Charus grinned. A malicious light appeared in his eyes. But surprisingly, Ezekiel felt no killing intent from the old Spirit.
“We should run!” Shine sounded somewhat frantic. “He just said that if the caravan is so eager to leave his tunnel, then perhaps they should run for real!”
Charus suddenly stopped. The tunnel no longer slid shut behind him. Instead, the tortoise slowly bent his knees. Taking what was basically a runner’s stance.
“EVERYBODY RUN!!!” Ezekiel turned around, yelling at the caravan.
At first, the guards were confused, but Evelyn, Warren, and, surprisingly enough, Riley got the message right away. Evelyn used her shadows to wrap up as many of the guards as she could. Throwing them onto any wagon or cart that had space. As well as some that didn’t.
A moment later, all the draft animals were running at full speed. Just as Ezekiel caught up. Having sprinted down the tunnel himself.
The walls began to rumble. Dust and shards of stone fell from the ceiling. Charus began to trot. Then jog. Then sprint. Quickly reaching the rest of the caravan.
The distance closed so fast that Ezekiel nearly thought that there hadn’t been any to begin with. But he knew that he had run at least a couple hundred meters before reaching the caravan again. Yet even though his movements appeared to be in slow motion, Charus was clearly keeping up with the frantically running caravan.
Given that Charus was a Legendary Spirit, this shouldn’t have been surprising. But given the Cavern Spirit’s physical form, and slow movements from before. Nearly all of them had fallen into a false sense of security.
Fortunately, even though each and every one of the guards was tightly gripping their vehicles for their lives, it seemed like none of them were in danger. Charus could’ve easily dropped the ceiling on them if he really wanted to harm, or kill, them all.
“Light! The light’s getting closer! We’re saved!” Several of the guards cautiously poked their heads above the wagons to look forwards.
Indeed, the light that had been incredibly tiny at first was now significantly larger and growing bigger by the second.
But it seemed like Charus was now having fun. He started hopping on all fours, no longer running like before. All while still keeping pace with the caravan. This caused the ground to roll and heave, like waves on the ocean.
“Oh, Ancients!” “Nononono!” “Run faster!”
The guards were all frantically screaming in fright as the world around them twisted and turned. Yet none of the vehicles broke, or even seemed stressed by the changes in the environment.
Internally, Ezekiel had finally calmed down from his initial fright. Knowing that Charus was obviously doing something to keep the guards from being harmed from his actions.
The similarly calm and composed look on Evelyn and Warren’s faces also confirmed his suspicions. Though, it seemed Riley, and the twins, were still unaware, as they all looked worried as their carriage continued to dash to the end of the tunnel.
Within seconds, that seemed like minutes, the group did finally reach the end of the tunnel. However, it seemed like Charus had one last trick to play, because the exit of the tunnel wasn’t on the ground like they were expecting. Instead, it was nearly a hundred meters in the air.
While the group screamed from the sudden drop, Ezekiel couldn’t help but ponder how incredible Charus’ control over his magic was. Ezekiel hadn’t even realized they were slowly moving upwards.
Still screaming in fear, the rest of the guards tried to stop or prevent their fall. Most of them had recovered their mana in full, so many of them made very good attempts. But they all ultimately hit the ground at top, or near top, speed.
Only to sink into the ground as the stone was immediately softened. Causing them all to bounce as if the ground were made of rubber.
It took several seconds for everyone to stop and stand firmly on the ground once more. Meanwhile, Charus walked away from the group. His mana pressing down on all the guards. Not a single human in the area was willing to make a sound. Even as the Legendary tortoise let out a continuous stream of puff of air. Strikingly similar to a raucous laughter.
“Sorry about that.” Invera’s voice cut through the silence as Charus walked away. “I did warn you that he doesn’t like humans. But he made a promise to keep you safe through the tunnel. So, please be aware that you were never in any danger.”
Warren and Evelyn calmly began getting the guards and everything else in order. While Ezekiel turned to face Invera, who had landed next to the group. Ready to ask for some answers and clarifications. But he stayed silent. Utterly unable to speak.
As he looked into the Spirit’s haven, his breath was immediately taken away.